The end of glyphosate: French government online website opens to share alternatives

The French government, in the light of phasing out glyphosate, made live on 1 February an online Ressource Centre website offering alternative farming techniques (e.g. planting frost-prone vegetation alongside rapeseed; the use of chain harrows, rotary cultivators amongst many other methods depending on the sector…)

Methods can be compared, shared and discussed online by those who have registered: specialists, scientists and farmers who have opted out of glyphosate.

The idea first came under sharp criticism from the French Farmers Union FNSEA who feared that those farmers not registering (and thus continuing to use glyphosate) would come under scrutiny and eventually risk punitive measures for not opting out of glyphosate.

This new website will be updated regularly in the months to come.

In France, an action plan was drawn up in June 2018 to end the main uses of glyphosate by 2020 and by 2022 for all uses.